Pomegranates

Maybe, I spend too much time volunteering for the non-profit, Pomegranate Center since the first thing I design out of metal in months is a Pomegranate!  I had fun with the plasma cutter. I experimented with two techniques for cutting out those shapes.  The smaller of the two was all freehand.  The large one, I used a guide that attaches to the plasma torch end, and uses a magnet (or suction cups) to adhere to the material as you draw a circle while cutting.  I liked the accuracy using the guide, over free hand.  Any thoughts from my readers as to which one looks more attractive?  I painted the outlines of the image, and delivered them to their staff this weekend.  The pomegranate will be mounted on their gazebo roof.

Garage clean up

You guessed it, I was waylaid by other home renovation projects and that is why my blog has been so silent. Although it felt satisfying to check off other projects on my list, I have been itching to return to metal work. With that said, I wanted to share with you a few photos of what happened to my garage while I was busy with those other projects.  It was crammed full of lumber, tools everywhere, and piles of scrap metal that my friends at the Pomegranate Center gave me a month ago.  No time to sort, so it was all dumped in a pile.  I spent two days cleaning, then rewarded my hard work by playing with the plasma cutter.  I will share that project in the next series of posts, but first, here are my "before" and "after" cleaning snapshots.  

BEFORE

AFTER